


boats and waterfalls

by nitorisource



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternative Universe - Mermaids, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 16:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2435999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitorisource/pseuds/nitorisource
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years after his first incident with the strange, quiet person from the ocean, Makoto is unsure whether it ever happened or if he somehow made the black-haired, teal-tailed person up as a child. Now, towards the end of high school, this can't possibly be the same person, right? After all, he'd never seen Sousuke outside of water before. And for some reason, Sousuke is acting like a stranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	boats and waterfalls

His mother has warned him time and time again not to travel down the beach on his own, but Makoto can’t think of anything aside from running to some place where no one can see him crying. He stumbles down the uneven, soft sand, his path illuminated very dimly by the half-covered moon, while he tries to wipe at his streaming eyes every few steps. The sound of his sobbing and hiccuping is lost to the crash of waves against the shore, and he’s glad to hear anything else.

Eventually, he has to stop, his legs unable to carry him any farther, so he drops to his knees and curls his fingers deeply into the cold, lifeless sand. Tears continue to plop down softly in the space between his hands. After several moments like this, his arms begin to go numb, so he sits back on his heels and swipes again at his face now that the worst has subsided.

He’s so wrapped up in his own small world that he doesn’t even realize the figure that has appeared some feet in front of him, and it’s with a small yelp that he scrambles backwards in shock. The person is sitting down farther along the shore with his back to the ocean as waves surge in around him, though he appears unbothered by the chilling water - it is a boy, Makoto thinks to himself, as his eyes weakly make out the crop of short, sopping black hair. He looks young, too; perhaps around Makoto’s age, though no older.

For some baffling reason, this person isn’t wearing any clothes despite having his entire lower body submerged, so Makoto shakily gets to his feet and timidly asks, “A-are you okay?” but his voice is lost to the wind and water. Against better discretion, he kicks off his sneakers and removes his socks so that he can venture several steps closer, pausing just before the line separating wet and dry sand.

“Are you okay? Do you need help?” he tries again, and from this distance, he can tell the boy can hear. The person’s eyes focus onto his and Makoto finds himself staring into a pair of almost luminous blueish eyes set on a rather cold expression, half of the person’s face dim without the moonlight shining onto it, and Makoto takes a shaky breath.

The incoming wave washes lightly over his feet and he flinches at the shocking feeling before steeling himself enough to wade forward a few small steps, eyes straining to ensure he’s stepping into flat ground. When he looks up, though, he catches the way the person turns his back to him and actually goes farther out into the water - Makoto can hardly gasp out a “Wait!” before the person disappears completely.

Panic swells through Makoto as he wonders how the boy can possibly survive in such cold, harsh waters during a time like this, but fear grips him hard from moving more than knee-deep into the water. Should he call his parents and the police for help?

Just as he turns around and readies himself to sprint back, there’s a loud, out-of-place splashing noise from the sea and he feels something cool and frigid run against his shin, causing him to jump back and fall onto his ass in the water. He scrambles and splashes to his feet instantly when he feels the same thing touch his hand but he manages to move back only a few feet before whatever this thing is grabs his ankle and yanks his leg out from under him.

Visions of being dragged into the ocean or eaten by sea creatures fill his mind just as a panic-filled scream leaves his mouth but he’s flipped onto his back and a hand fits itself over his mouth to stifle the cry for help.

There’s a heavy body holding him into place in the water and it takes a few moments of struggling before he realizes that the same pair of deeply colored eyes he’d glimpsed earlier is now staring him directly in the face. It’s this person’s freezing hand that’s being held over Makoto’s mouth, so the brunet does his best to calm himself down even as bone-chilling water washes over his chest and past his ears.

When his attacker deems his behavior acceptable, he removes his hand and Makoto takes in several gasps of air as tears well up in the corners of his eyes. He considers screaming out for help again but the person moves to the side and produces something from behind his back - a sea shell.

A rather intricate one, bigger than anything Makoto’s picked up on the beach before, and it’s one that this strange person is now offering with an expression more sheepish than his initially detached and intimidating one.

Makoto sits up and scoots up the muddy beach, eying the boy warily, before slowly accepting it. Some of the earlier overcast has thinned out and now that most of the clouds have gone past it, the moon gives him enough light to make out the shell’s pink and reddish hue, streaked with an almost golden color among its ridges and bumps near its opening.

As he breathlessly admires the shell, he remembers the person sitting with him - he glances up with widened eyes now half-expecting to be dragged into the water again, but the dark-haired boy simply stares back. Makoto wonders if he had been just straight out staring at him this whole time and now awkwardly attempts to hand the shell back, but the boy scoots away and disappears into the water the same way he’d done the first time.

Makoto makes it out of the water and onto the dry sand before the boy comes back, though he lingers in the water with a disappointed look as he watches the brunet take trembling steps farther up the beach. Makoto makes the mistake of glancing back to catch that longing expression, along with the boy’s outstretched hand - another wet, glistening object rests in his palm.

 

Half an hour later, Makoto is kneeling in front of an impressive collection of large shells and polished rocks (the boy also tried to hand him starfish and tiny fish but Makoto was in tears as he demanded that those creatures be brought back to their homes) while the dark-haired boy continues to disappear and reappear with more deep-sea objects.

He’s long since stopped wondering how the boy is doing this because as soon as he hands off his newest catch he’s always gone again and leaves Makoto no time to ask questions, though every now and then Makoto’s looked up to catch the boy staring at him from far in the ocean before dipping below the surface.

This time, when the boy returns, Makoto makes no move to wade into the water to retrieve the piece of coral he’s proudly got in his hands. Makoto’s clothes have still hardly dried off from the earlier incident and he’s shivering down to his bones since the night has only gotten colder, so he hugs his knees to his chests and shouts out, “I’ve got to go back home now.”

Although the boy hasn’t said a word or indicated any ability to understand language, this clearly upsets him. He even comes father out of the water than before, though he still stops himself from coming out too far, and instead pouts ungraciously at Makoto.

“I’m sorry,” Makoto continues hesitantly, “but my mom and dad must be looking for me.”

The boy’s shoulders sag forward and his hand tightens around the chunk of coral, but he nods once.

“Th - thank you, by the way. Thank you for all of this.” He gestures to the pile in front of him, which he’s certain he can’t all take home, but he makes sure to grab the very first pink and red shell the boy had given to him. He holds it up against the moonlight and allows a warm smile to spread over his face before he says again, “Thank you!”

He pauses as though expecting an answer, only to receive the same quiet stare he’s garnered all night. It’s good enough for him, so he places a few more shells and rocks into his pockets before standing up and stretching his legs out -

The boy drags himself forward just as the water recedes, and Makoto is slammed with the surprise of what makes up the boy’s previously hidden lower half.

“... welcome.” The boy’s voice is raspy and deeper than Makoto would have imagined. “You’re welcome.”

He’s now just a few feet away from Makoto, the boy’s tail - an actual tail, like the one from a fish or a whale, even covered in scales that glisten iridescently in the low light - still swishing in the shallow water. He registers the expression on Makoto’s face, clearly horror stricken, and he flinches and starts to move away immediately.

Makoto’s voice starts working again in time to call out a, “Wait!” and the boy freezes mid-escape. “Wait, I - you’re a - y-you can speak, right?”

It takes the boy a few moments to process those words, but he gives a slight nod.

“And you’re a _mermaid_?” Makoto breathes the word out almost inaudibly. “You’re - you’re actually _real_?”

The boy gives him an indignant snort at the question, crossing his arms and turning away, but Makoto moves to kneel down in the watery sand close enough to almost touch the person straight out of a fairy tale book.

“You’re not…. you won’t eat me, right?”

The boy makes a disgusted expression at the thought, and Makoto feels his chest loosen and fill with laughter.

“Okay, good,” he says, still chuckling. “Then, do you have a name?”

The boy nods again and takes a few moments to ready himself before saying, “Sousuke. Yamazaki Sousuke.”

“So, Yama--”

The boy shakes his head furiously and corrects him with, “Sousuke. Just Sousuke.”

“Okay, just Sousuke,” the brunet affirms. “Then, my name too: Makoto.”

“Ma-ko-to.” The words leave Sousuke’s mouth slowly and uncertainly.

“You can just call me ‘Mako.’”

Sousuke shakes his head and states again, “Makoto. Makoto is better.”

Another smiles uninhibitedly settles on the brunet's lips and it has Sousuke casting his eyes away for some reason. "Thank you, Sousuke." Hearing his name also seems to have the dark-haired boy experiencing another bout of embarrassment, though he remains silent on it.

"You're welcome." He pauses. "Makoto." It doesn't sound so hesitant anymore, and he even allows himself to smile lightly at the way the name sound coming from his mouth. His expression becomes serious again as he says, "Don't cry anymore, Makoto."

Makoto nods timidly at that and finally gets on his way back home and Sousuke, too, retreats back into the water.  More than enough questions are bubbling in the brunet's mind but the entire fairy-tale-like feel of the situation has him thinking that he'd rather leave the details untouched. It's already been surreal to have a mermaid bring him dozens of shells just to make him feel better.

He doesn't even need to ask whether they'll see one another again. The next day, once it's dark enough that the ocean has lost its warm, orange streaks of the sunset, Makoto reaches the secluded spot on the beach just as Sousuke peeks out of the deep ocean water.

 

**Author's Note:**

> this first part happens before the incident with the old fisherman and goldfish  
> also if u see mistakes!! then!!! oh ma n!! ! pls tell me lol


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